Vogue International Editor Suzy Menkes is the best-known fashion journalist in the world. After 25 years commenting on fashion for the International Herald Tribune (rebranded recently as The International New York Times), Suzy Menkes now writes exclusively for Vogue online, covering fashion worldwide.

#SuzyNYFW: Jeremy Scott – Post Trump Rage?

The designer of flashy fun took the ‘Cult of Personality’ as his subject and Jesus Christ Superstar as a protagonist

Everything seemed as usual at the Jeremy Scott show: a heaving crowd waving invitations reading ‘Cult of Personality’ and decorated with a zingy coloured version of Jesus Christ Superstar.

The backdrop announced Jeremy Scott, Beverly Hills, New York, Paris. And the runway appeared to be foaming thick and white like the snow piled outside.

Jeremy Scott (Foto: Antonio Barros)

But there was something different about the gaudy colours – shocking pink trousers, a swimming pool blue feather boa and multi stripes on a dress that stretched across the body in turquoise, red, pink, orange and yellow.

There on a pair of trousers was the face of Jesus illuminated with neon; while a baby doll dress announced ‘Love Stinks.’ By the time the Jesus face had appeared on a (male) model, under a 1970s parody patchwork coat, the message had come through: the creator of funny, funky characters, usually so absorbed in his collections, was now angry.

Jeremy Scott (Foto: Antonio Barros)

Surely this ‘Cult of Personality’ was related to President Trump, the Kardashian family or even the front row posers that Jeremy Scott has attracted over almost two decades of treating fashion as Fun! Fun! Fun!

In the backstage hullabaloo, it was hard to get much out of the designer, but the signs and signals were in the bag – including the one he laid on front row seats. Each season, in collaboration with French house Longchamp, the designer offers a message. This one had the face of Marilyn Monroe half hidden by the gilded words: ‘As Seen on TV.’

Jeremy Scott (Foto: Antonio Barros)

It is tough, without the designer's words to prove it, to say that this was a political collection, although it seemed obvious: from the politicised T-shirts worn by the usherettes through to the crude, in-your-face sexiness of the clothes and attitudes of both genders.

And then there were the normal Jeremy Scott clothes: a sweat jacket and trousers with added frills; the fishnet *hose* ending in glitter boots; the 1970s patchwork trousers with butterflies decorating military puffer jackets.

Jeremy Scott (Foto: Antonio Barros)

Come to think of it, butterflies are an endangered species, much like the leopards in the Jeremy Scott prints. Will the overt sexuality, fun and freedom of expression referenced by the slogan ‘Sex is Cute’ – also be an endangered species in the new America?